This is the first piece of writing I’ve done in seven months, so go easy on me.
When I stopped writing new reviews seven months ago I told y’all that I wasn’t sure I’d keep the site open after February 2022 and didn’t know if I could work up the time and energy to compile my reviews in book form.
Here’s the deal: a book is definitely not on the immediate horizon, but I have decided to keep the site active for at least another year.
The two decisions are related. The site will continue to fill up space in the blogosphere because I’m not in the mood for a book and altrockchick.com is a convenient place to store my stuff.
I’m also thinking of coming back for an encore . . . of sorts. There are still some albums I wish I’d covered, but I’d also like to do a few pieces on individual songs that are: a.) great songs stuck on crappy albums I wouldn’t review in a billion years or b.) songs that are on decent albums but are clearly head-and-shoulders above the rest or c.) songs that I haven’t covered in my reviews but have achieved iconic status for one reason or another (like when you drove your Chevy to the levee but you really should have known when to hold ’em because you should have come down off your throne and not said to your squeeze, “Baby, do I feel high.”)
I won’t know if I still have my writing chops until I start writing, so I can’t promise anything.
My apologies to those of you who posted comments and didn’t get a response from me for weeks or not at all, but I’ve been very, very busy! After long discussions and a few failed experiments, my partner and I decided that the most promising path to more meaningful work was to shift our client base from corportate clients to NGO’s (non-profits). We were making headway and landed a couple of NGO clients before Omicron paid a visit to the continent and fucked up the works (today we broke the all-time daily record for new cases—vive la France!). As a consequence we have put all our marketing efforts on hold until this latest phase passes into epidemiological history.
With a more manageable workload, I have some time available to continue my exploration of music. This may involve writing about it on altrockchick.com and/or trying my hand at composition. We’ll see.
The family remains healthy, vigilant and frustrated with the never-ending restrictions. The only music-related news I can share is that I lost a bet with my father on which team Max Scherzer would pick (the Mets?) and the penance he exacted was excruciating: watching all seven hours of the Get Back documentary. I had no idea that The Beatles could be so phenomenally boring.
Somewhat on the plus side, dad found an unopened box from the move to Nice SEVEN YEARS AGO and part of the treasure trove was my high school graduation picture. My rather tepid expression can be interpreted as part resistance to a silly ritual and part anger at the beautician whose approach was late 70’s/early 80’s.
Dad calls it my “Charlie’s Angels” look. I call my dad an insensitive asshole.
Please keep it going! You are perhaps the most thorough and insightful album viewer I’ve read, and even when we disagree, you’ve challenged my perception, deepened my thinking and I come away better for it.
Thank you! Though I’ve quit a few times, I think I’m addicted to exploring music, so I think I’ll be around for a while!
I am not competent when it comes to this form of communication. I have questions/comments in regards to Peter Gabriel’s album “US”. How can we communicate? My email address is c.boogie87@yahoo.com
I hope you receive this message. Please reply if you do
Sorry about that—I deleted the menu item “Contact ARC” and moved the link to the About page: https://altrockchick.com/2020/11/11/contact-arc/
Thanks for keeping your site up and running, Return visits are always rewarding. If you’re taking requests, I’d love to see you add more Tull reviews when the mood strikes.
Comin’ up!
Please, please leave the site up, I actually re-read my fave reviews!
Here at the supermarket , listening to Claptons’s After Midnight
Bad Company , and the Motels ( only the lonely get laid ) is my version ,
The site continues , a good thing , jury’s still out on how you will proceed.
AltRock Redux , AltRock Remastered , ..post by post , I imagine it will
Take shape ..it’s all good , an ongoing performance of sorts
I think some people exit stage left …but come back ,
As Robert Frost wrote …” two roads diverged in a yellow wood..
And I took the path less traveled by…….and that has made all the difference …”
Wishing you the best in this New Year .
Be well
Be safe
S
I looked like one of the Angels in my grad photo, too. And I’m a dude!
Welcome back.
You rock!
Thanks for leaving the site up still! It’s really fun reading your reviews. I don’t think you realize the fucking chasm of quality between your reviews and the likes of the Anthony Fantanos out there who pump out 20 reviews a week with little quality control! An encore sounds fun if you’re up to it, I like the idea of hearing your thoughts on big songs like American Pie and stuff even if you’re rusty at writing after such a long break. That Beatles documentary made me realize that they had a legitimate album of great songs in 1969 and really, really fucked up when it came up to putting it all on one cohesive album (much like the white album). Still wasn’t worth watching through the hours of boredom. Seeing a photo of you close to my age is funny for some reason. Thanks words on my phone that I interpret as a woman! Glad things are well for you, keep on keeping on.
PS I’ve been listening to a lot of belle and Sebastian, XTC, guerilla toss, Natalia Lafourcade, and Julieta Venegas. I feel like you’d like them all, you might hate them all.
Not sure why the Beatles themselves should have to take any stick for the length of the film and its “dull” bits. How many artists, much less the likes of us, could withstand that kind of scrutiny? The fault, if fault there is, lies with Peter Jackson, who couldn’t edit this any better than he could edit the interminable Lord of the Rings. Yes, it should have been about a third of its length, would have been rivetting, but it clearly wasn’t aimed at a general audience but to Beatle die-hards and others fascinated by the creation of timeless music the equal of which it increasingly appears we’ll never see again. Paul McCartney’s allround virtuoso presence and the genuine camaraderie shown throughout are more than enough to offset the mindless, perhaps drug-induced chatter. i’ll bet most flies-on-the-walls have to put up with worse!
Good to hear from you. Your grad photo is a lot better than mine. I’ve made it through part one of the “Get Back” documentary. I thought parts of it were interesting, but it would’ve been better if it was about half the length–or maybe 1/3 or 1/4. I mostly like watching the Beatles jam, but when they just talk for long stretches, it gets very dull. It’s not like any great ideas came out of those conversations. It’s just one dead end after another. The funniest part for me was when they were all yammering on about something while Paul was sitting at the piano playing the chords that would become “Let It Be”–and nobody noticed. You’d think someone would’ve said, “Hey, that’s pretty good Paul. You should do something with that.”
This makes me happy. Love your writing.
Great news. Looking forward to to reading more reviews, etc.
I’m glad you’re going to keep writing. You have a great gift for writing about music. Your reviews are more insightful than most of the stuff I read by “professional” reviewers. And call me insensitive or call me Ishmael, but I love that photo with the 70s/80s “Charlie’s Angels” look.
Why do great songs occasionally land on bad albums? Some musicians are graced with genius, others merely visited with divine inspiration?
I would’ve lost that bet, too.
Nice to see you back .. 🙂
Poor Dad 😉
Happy Holidays to you and yours – Stay well !
Rick (Montreal)
Excited to hear! Love your reviews and attitude.
I’m glad this site will remain online! So many great reviews, it would be a huge loss!
Also, I wish the best to you, and a happy new year!
Cheers!